Germany says latest undersea cable cut a 'wake-up call'

Berlin: Germany said on Saturday the suspected sabotage of an undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia this week was a wake up call that dem...

Berlin: Germany said on Saturday the suspected sabotage of an undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia this week was a "wake-up call" that demanded new EU sanctions against Russia's "shadow fleet".

The Estlink 2 cable that carries electricity from Finland to Estonia was disconnected from the grid on Wednesday, just over a month after two telecommunications cables were severed in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic.

"Almost every month, ships are damaging major undersea cables in the Baltic Sea," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a statement to the Funke media group.

"Crews are leaving anchors in the water, dragging them for kilometres along the seafloor for no apparent reason, and then losing them when pulling them up," she said.

"It's more than difficult to still believe in coincidences. This is an urgent wake-up call for all of us."